Office of Inspector General Audit Report: Safety, Cost, and Operational Metrics of the Federal Aviation Administration's Visual Flight Rule Towers: Project ID: AV-2003-057

We issued a report on the metrics of FAA's visual flight rule (VFR) towers. We conducted this analysis as part of our ongoing oversight responsibility of the Contract Tower Program and at the request of the President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, who asked us to review cost-related issues associated with the Contract Tower Program. Because safety is the primary mission of all air traffic control facilities, we expanded the scope of the analysis to also include metrics on the safety and operations of VFR contract towers and VFR towers staffed with FAA controllers.